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Principal Program Operations Engineer

Northrop Grumman

Chantilly, VAJob$104–155K/yrSeen todaySeen in employer's feed today

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At a glance

Compensation
$104–155K/yr
Location
Chantilly, VA
Work Authorization
US work authorization required

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Requirements

Credentials this posting asks for.

Top Secret clearance

Job overview

Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems seeks a Principal Operations Engineer in Chantilly, Virginia. The customer-facing role coordinates with end users, Integrated Product Team members, and program leadership to address technical needs, troubleshoot systems, and support data analysis and integration. The engineer serves as an interface between operations and engineering, supports system performance, and contributes to process, design, and future operations improvements.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Systems TroubleshootingData AnalysisSystems IntegrationCommunicationTechnical LeadershipStrategy DevelopmentMATLABPythonJavaAir Vehicle SystemsGround Segment SystemsSensor PayloadsSupport EquipmentFielded Aircraft SystemsDoD Customer SupportSystems EngineeringRequirements ManagementTechnical Configuration ManagementRoot Cause InvestigationOperational Utility AssessmentMission Data Analysis

Qualifications

Bachelor's in STEM or Master's+3 or PhD+15+ Years Related Engineering Experience3+ Years Related Engineering Experience1+ Year Related Engineering ExperienceActive Top Secret ClearanceSAP Clearance EligibilityCurrent SAP Clearance

Benefits

Relocation Assistance
Medical Insurance
401(k) Match
Paid Time Off

Full job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes

CLEARANCE TYPE: Top Secret

TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the Time

Description

At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.

At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.

Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems (NGAS) is looking for a Principal Operations Engineer to join our team in Chantilly, VA.

The Principal Operations Engineer is a customer facing role, coordinating with end users, Integrated Product Team members, and program leadership to address technical needs and concerns as they arise. They support technical troubleshooting from cradle to grave, and are able to assist in data analysis and integration between the end users, field teams, and engineering teams.

Duties and Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Able to work non-traditional hours, including nights, weekends and holidays or as directed by the customer.

  • Troubleshoot systems to resolve complex issues by interacting and coordinating with responsible Subsystems engineers.

  • Serve as an interface between the operations & engineering organization.

  • Acts as local on-site representative to customer organization.

  • Ensure overall system performance is met and maintained thru lower level functions/subsystems

  • Perform troubleshooting, document issues and coordinate field replacements/upgrades of any impacted parts.

  • Contribute to improvement of processes, design and future operations efforts.

  • Self-directed technical performer with strong communication skills, demonstrated experience leading multi-disciplinary technical trades, and ability to develop & execute to a strategy.

Basic Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline and 5 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master’s degree in a STEM discipline and 3 years of related engineering experience; OR a PhD in a STEM discipline with 1 year of related engineering experience.

  • Must have an active U.S. Government Top Secret or higher clearance (with a background investigation completed within the last 6 years or currently enrolled into Continuous Evaluation).

  • Must have the ability to obtain and maintain Special Access Program (SAP) clearance within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the company.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Current applicable Special Access Program (SAP) clearance.

  • Familiarization with coding languages (MATLAB, Python, Java).

  • Experience with air vehicle, ground segment, sensor payloads, and support equipment.

  • Experience supporting fielded aircraft systems.

  • Experience with DoD/Government customers.

  • Experience with multiple disciplines across Systems Engineering, incl. requirements, integration, technical configuration management (CM or Technical Baseline).

  • Experience with root cause investigations, fielded issue investigation, and operational missions.

  • Experience in performing operational utility assessments to assess operations, data flow, mission performance and technical risk to inform requirements and design concept development.

  • Experience in collecting and analyzing operational mission data to evaluate mission effectiveness and recommend improvements to system design, architecture and system operations concept.

Primary Level Salary Range: $103,600.00 - $155,400.00

The above salary range represents a general guideline; however, Northrop Grumman considers a number of factors when determining base salary offers such as the scope and responsibilities of the position and the candidate's experience, education, skills and current market conditions.

Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay. Annual bonuses are designed to reward individual contributions as well as allow employees to share in company results. Employees in Vice President or Director positions may be eligible for Long Term Incentives. In addition, Northrop Grumman provides a variety of benefits including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, savings plan, Company paid holidays and paid time off (PTO) for vacation and/or personal business.

The application period for the job is estimated to be 20 days from the job posting date. However, this timeline may be shortened or extended depending on business needs and the availability of qualified candidates.

Northrop Grumman is an Equal Opportunity Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class. For our complete EEO and pay transparency statement, please visit http://www.northropgrumman.com/EEO. U.S. Citizenship is required for all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.

Job Category: Engineering

How this job compares

Set against the 573 open Operations Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 4, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$104–155K/yr
  • Virginia median$88–151K/yr25 salary ranges
  • US median$95–145K/yr441 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $130K, is 6% above the Virginia median midpoint ($122K) — in the middle half of Operations Engineer salary ranges in Virginia.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 27 open Operations Engineer jobs in Virginia and 573 across the US. 3% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in Virginia
Experience
This posting asks for at least 1 year of experience — less than three in four Operations Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for (median 3 years, across 464 postings).
Education
386 of the 573 open Operations Engineer jobs (67%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 4, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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